Tuning your engine for fuel efficiency?

Azulbanirpal

Guys, aside from changing to new spark plugs, new air and fuel filter, change oil etc, what are your opinions on the following:

-Using adjustable fuel pressure regulator, so I can reduce pressure on fuel injectors for less FC, dunno if this is feasible. Am not too keen on power, more on fuel economy. Link of device below:
http://www.tomei-p.co.jp/_2003web-catalogue/e135_fuel_regulator.html

-Blocking the EGR (exhaust gas recirculation), I know this would entail more Nox, but some people do this on their EGR equipped vehicles.

With bumper to bumper traffic most of the time, my fuel bill is no joke nowadays.

Opinions?

kelunji

I fitted an Apexi SAFC (Super Air Flow Converter) to my Lancer and my fuel consumption actually went down from 9-11km/L to 10-13km/L, plus added a bit of oomph too.

slamm

The best option i could think of for an EFI or CRDi is a chip and dyno tuning. But of course this will entail around 30k cash out if i'm not mistaken.

Azulbanirpal

Saw an adjustable fuel reg at banawe, similar to the one I posted and costs only around P1.6k. It also includes a pressure gauge in Kg/ cm2. There is a liquid inside the gauge and that is normal, also am sure this can be installed inside the vehicle adding to the wow factor, hehe. Too bad adjustment is not remote, it has to be made on the valve itself.
Also my old civic does not have an O2 sensor on the exhaust manifold so it is not a closed system, and hopefully will not interfere with the ECM algorythm.

Will look into the chip as well but the price may put me off.

K.I.L.L.

I know a number of people who "blank" their EGR and swear by it. I don't have any personal experience though. For fuel efficiency, I just make sure my tyre pressures are correct and I drive with a light foot so that the AT shifts by 2,000 rpm.

kelunji

Azulbanirpal wrote: »

Saw an adjustable fuel reg at banawe, similar to the one I posted and costs only around P1.6k. It also includes a pressure gauge in Kg/ cm2. There is a liquid inside the gauge and that is normal, also am sure this can be installed inside the vehicle adding to the wow factor, hehe. Too bad adjustment is not remote, it has to be made on the valve itself.
Also my old civic does not have an O2 sensor on the exhaust manifold so it is not a closed system, and hopefully will not interfere with the ECM algorythm.

Will look into the chip as well but the price may put me off.

Chips and piggybacks are better because you can actually dial in the fuel delivery while taking into account engine RPM and other factors such as temperature, O2, boost pressure, timing, variable valve technology, etc. Kung yan lang ilalagay mo, it will only change fuel pressures on a wide range. E.g. in my case I lowered my fuel delivery amount by 10-15% (below stock) at the lower RPMs, but increased it 10% (above stock) at the mids and lowered it again by 10% (below stock) at the highs. That way I get lower FC at idle or when I'm just cruising along, but get an extra boost when needed (at the expense of slightly higher FC) and slightly lower FC again at wide open throttle.

Of course these mods will need proper tuning to get the full benefits. Mine was tuned by a friend for a few bottles of beer (street-tuned lang but luckily he had a wideband sensor).

Azulbanirpal

Kill, yeah am seriously considering plugging the EGR, I just hope that the tree huggers wont be upset too much. Am actually driving lightfooted nowadays, no choice due to condtions of traffic. Have Manual tranny on both my vehicles, but my old civic has no EGR pala, dunno why. My tire pressure is 32 psi, usually.

As for the adjustable fuel regulator, I tend to think that the upgrade has more consistent and reliable fuel delivery based on the manifold pressure, more consistent unlike the factory reg.

Kelunji, youre lucky to have friends who know their stuff, as for me DIY lang and reading up on the internet.

kelunji

Azulbanirpal wrote: »

Kill, yeah am seriously considering plugging the EGR, I just hope that the tree huggers wont be upset too much. Am actually driving lightfooted nowadays, no choice due to condtions of traffic. Have Manual tranny on both my vehicles, but my old civic has no EGR pala, dunno why. My tire pressure is 32 psi, usually.

As for the adjustable fuel regulator, I tend to think that the upgrade has more consistent and reliable fuel delivery based on the manifold pressure, more consistent unlike the factory reg.

Kelunji, youre lucky to have friends who know their stuff, as for me DIY lang and reading up on the internet.

Best to have it tuned, even with same engines the settings will still vary. Besides you do not want to lean the fuel too much. The extra fuel is actually used to cool the engine.

Azulbanirpal

Kelunji, roger that.
Replaced oil to synthetic, malayo ang idle noise, quieter and smoother ang takbo. Also vaccuum gauge reading is higher, maybe due to faster valve sealing? So far no oil leaks on crankshaft seals.

Btw had my front axle and cv shafts replaced, cv shaft spline stuck on years of rust, only way is to apply heat and hydraulic pressed. After that did not want to use the axle and shaft since heating compromises strength. That is why I do not want to go thru floods anymore, even on low water levels. Pag pumasok na sa spline ang tubig and wait for years, tapos ka.

Buti nalang dami surplus pang ilalim ng EK, fresh and cheap.

Azulbanirpal

Blocking or blanking the egr really works!
I have better fuel mileage now, so far no negative feedback on engine performance. I blocked the bypass pipe on the intake side using marine epoxy, exhaust side may be too hot for the epoxy.